Tuesday, 22 September 2015

Lake District- Windermere

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاتهand good day!

Continuing from the previous post, on the second day, we decided to go to the largest lake in lake district which is Windermere. It's located quite far from our accommodation, around an hour drive, but it was worth it!

The lake is huge!!

We stopped by at one of the viewing area (you have to keep a lookout on one of these places while driving). At first we thought it was just a field overlooking the lake. Then my curious friend found a door, which I thought was locked.

So we went in and the path took us here!

The water was amazing!!! You can even swim here. It's quite remote, so you don't have to be shy because no one is around.

I would've just jumped in before I saw this sign. My bestie said I shouldn't swim, to be safe, eventhough deep down in my heart, I really really really want to.

The lake is an absolute place where you can find peace.

Although, some of the times when there's boats coming, the lake became wavy like waves at the beach.

When we came here, probably because it was quite early in the morning, there were no one around.

We could enjoy this magnificent view without any disturbance. Just as we about to leave, more and more people came.

After that, we head towards the Windermere town centre. It's packed with a lot of tourist and was fairly busy. The town has a lot of stores such as Tesco where you can buy essentials to cook if you are living in a cottage like we did.

There were also many tea rooms or cafes located around the town. My friend bought some carrot cake and vanilla slice here and it was delicious. The price was fairly cheap as well.

There's multiple parking sites around the town that you only have to pay £4 for 6 hours. Near where we park is the World of Beatrix Potter, a famous children's book. I used to read those books and watch the cartoon when I was little.

There were also a theatre festival going on when we were there which showing Sherlock Last Case, my absolute favourite. But we didn't have time (nor the money) to go and watch. ~sigh~

In Windermere, we decided to take the lake cruise because the lake is so very big, we won't have time to go around the lake. So the cruise is the best choice. Towards the cruise jetty, there were many swans, ducks and pigeons around.

They are so friendly and so used to human, you can just walk by them and pet them if you like.

If you have bread or something to feed them, they will immediately swarm you like flies. Those who are used to it won't budge, but because we're somewhat scared of them, we ran. haha..

Then, we rode the ferry. They have timetables for the ferry (inside the pamphlet) which I lost them now. You can ride anytime, but just be sure to get the last ferry back at 6pm.

The ferry that we took will make a stop at Brockhole. It's a part of the lake that has an activity centre which is very suitable for kids.

They have horse riding (more like ponies), cycling, tree top adventures (like the one that we went to at Go Ape), water activities (kayak, boat ride, etc) and even these cute mini golf.

Around the place, there's signs of these characters from Beatrix Potter.

I still remember Mr. Tod. ahh...the memories..

If you walk around the place (which is not very big), you can find a garden which is filled with loads of flowers and other produce such as apples!!

Look at the size of the zucchini (if you can find them). There's pumpkin too. They were still small though.

Because there weren't really that much to see or do here, after we had our packed lunch, we get a move on to Ambleside.

As you can see, when we reach Ambleside, the clouds started to get dark. But here in the UK, the rain can sometimes be a bit tricky. Luckily for us, we had time to take a walk around the most beautiful village (according to the ferry driver) at the district.

From the jetty, we had to walk around 8-10 minutes to go to the village. Along the way, we found this meadow with cows. When we went in, it turned out to be a ruin of the Roman Fort.

The white sheep are the black sheep around these parts (if you know what I mean). =P

Tada..after a short walk from the lake, we arrived at the village.

If you don't want to walk, there is a shuttle bus that you can take.

The village is super duper cute. Look at this cinema. Who wouldn't want to watch a movie in this building? So quaint.

All of the building is old-fashioned, but beautifully maintained.

Along this road are many guest houses and shop lots. Sure don't look like shops.

There's even a Thai restaurant. Diverse, yet still preserved.

We found this ice cream cart for £1, of course we couldn't resist!

The weather was still very nice for an ice cream cone. It's sunny and warm, despite the dark clouds. huhu...

We walked further a bit to find a place to have some old-fashioned English scone, and we stumbled upon this alley.

This cottage has a cafe underneath, so we decided to give it a try.

We all ordered the same English scone set with a pot of tea, heavy cream, jam, a cut of cheese and a slice of cake (kind of look like a fruit cake).

We were so dissapointed to find that the scone was really salty (that you can't eat even after putting the cream and jam) and the cake was burnt. We were also felt very uncomfortable with the waitress who were not only unfriendly, they kept staring at us and talked among themselves as if they were talking about us. Even when my friend told them how awful their scones tasted like and that the cake were burnt, their reply is just "it's supposed to be like that". Bull****! This was not our first time eating a scone. How rude were they, just because we look different (not white). Definitely don't recommend anyone to come here. The service alone was terrible! Only the toilet is good. You can just dump and leave.

Aside from that unfortunate incident, we walked back to the lake to catch the last ferry.

On the way back, we found this cute little car with awesome lash. haha...a great way to accessorize your car.

Remember the dark clouds? As we were walking back, it started to pour quite heavily.

Although we were soaking wet, we managed to get on an early ferry without having to wait for a very long time.

Bye bye Ambleside...until we meet again...

Due to the rain, the ferry company provided with a larger ferry with a closed top.

There were quite a lot of people, but it's not packed because the ferry is bigger this time.

We get to enjoy another great view of the lake before heading back to our cottage..